Improvement in motive-power cut-offs in grist-mills



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No. 43,4019. Pammd July 5, 1864.

N.' PETER; Phgwmhugnpm. wnsmngwm uc:4 DW.. 4

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH HOUGH, OF WEST CHESTER, FENNSYLNANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOTlVE-POWER CUT-OFFS IN GRIST-MILLS.

Specification forming part oi Letters Patent No. 43,409, dated July 5,1864.

To all whom/it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, JosEPn HOUGH, of'

West Chester, in the county of Chester and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and' improved means for automatically cuttingoft'themotive power from grist or ilour ing mills when the hoppers ofthe same become empty; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, inwhich- Figure l is a side sectional view of my i11- vention g Fig. 2, aplan or top view of the same. .c

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

This invention consists in the employment or use of a supplementalhopper placed within the ordinary hopper of a pair of millstones, andconnected by means of levers and a rockshai't to the gate of awater-wheel, or to the idle or iriction pulley of a driving-belt, insuch a manner that when the hopper becomes empty the gate of thewater-wheel will automatically close or the driving-belt be slack cnedso as to stop the mill.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand' and construct myinvention, I will proceed to describe it.

Arepresents the hopper of a pair ofH millstones, constructed in theusual way, and B represents the penstock of a water-wheel, and C thegate thereof. These parts may all be constructed and arranged in theusual or any proper way.

D is the supplemental hopper, which is placed within the hopper A and isattached to the lower end of a lever, E. This hopper D is iitted in thelower part of the hopper A, and it may be constructed of sheet metal,with a horizontal ilange, a, around its discharge-orifice b. The lever Eis provided ear its upper end with a series of holes, o, through any ofwhich the lower end of a rod, F, is connected to E by a pin, d, and thefulcrum-pin e of the lever E passes through an upright, GX, near thehopper. The rod F is connected at its upper end to one end of a` lever,G, the t'ulcrum-pin f of which passes through the upper end of anupright, H, and the opposite end of the lever G has a rod,-I, attachedto it, the lower end of the latter being connected by a pin, g, with anarm, h, which projects from a rock-shaft, J, the arm 71l having a seriesof holes made in it, through any of which the pin gV may pass. B has anupright, K, attached to it, with a weight, L, at its upper end, and tothe upright K one end ot' a lever, M, is connected, said lever havingits fulcrum at LX.

N is a pendant which is attached to the opposite end of the lever M, andhas a series ot' notches, t', at its lower part. These notches engagewith a lip, j, which projects from tle rock-shaft J.

The operation is as follovls: The weight L l on the upper end of theupright K is designed to be sufficiently heavy to keep -the supplementalhopper D in an elevated position, as shown in red in Fig. l; but whengrain is placed in the hopper A the additional weight will keep thehopper D depressed and the gateC raised, so as to admit the water on thewheel, as shown in black in Fig. l. It will be seen, therefore, thatr.when the grain all passes out from the supplemental hopper l) theweight L, in connection with that of the gate, will overcome the weightof the supplemental hopper D alone, and the gate will descend or close,the hopper D beingr raised to the position as shown in red in Fig.. 1.

The leverage-connection between the gate C and the supplemental hopper Dmay be varied or modified by changing the position of the pins d g inthe different holes designed for them, and also by varying the positionof the fulcrum-pin f of the lever G, the latter being provided withseveral holes, al', to` ad mit of this result. The rock-shaft J may alsobe provided with several arms, h, so that the device may be applied toseveral pairs of stones.

I would remark that the parts herein described may be arranged invarious ways to suit the position of the millstones, penstock, 8vo., andthat the same invention may be a-pplied to the belt of a driving-drum byhaving the lever M connected to an idle or friction pulley, so as toraise said pulley and slacken the belt when the hopper becomes empty.The invention, therefore, is applicable not only when water is used asamotor, but also when steam is used.

The gate C in the penstock v Having thus described my invention, what ofa driving-belt, for the purpose of automat- I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters ieally disconnecting' the motive power of a Patent,isgrist-mill, substantially as specified.

The arrangement of the supplemental hop- JOSEPH HOUGH. per D, levers E GM, rods F I N, and rock- Witnesses: shaft J, in combination with thegate of :L EBEE MILES,

water-wheel, or with the idle or friction roller i WM. BALDWiN.

